UC-NRI 


B    2    BMO    115 


E 

458.2 

1442 

1862 

MAIN 


'HAVPR 


REPLY., 


. 


A   REPLY 


MR  CHARLES  INGERSOLL'S 


LETTER  TO  A  FRIEND  IN  A  SLAVE  STATE." 


M.  RUSSELL  THAYER. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

JOHN   CAMPBELL,   PUBLISHER, 

419    CHESTNUT    STREET. 
1862. 


A  REPLY 


TO 


MR  CHARLES  INGERSOLL'S 


"LETTER  TO  A  FRIEND  IN  A  SLAVE  STATE." 


BY 


W.  EUSSELL  THAYER. 
// 


PHILADELPHIA: 
JOHN   CAMPBELL,  PUBLISHEE, 

419    CHESTNUT    STREET. 

1862. 


E 


LOAN  STACK 


& 


"  Among  the  advantages  of  a  confederate  republic,  enumerated 
by  Montesquieu,  an  important  one  is,  that  should  a  popular  insur 
rection  happen  in  one  of  the  states,  the  others  are  able  to  quell  it. 
Should  abuses  creep  into  one  part,  they  are  reformed  by  those  that 
remain  -sound."  % 

JAMES  MADISON. 

"According  to  the  degree  of  pleasure  and  pride  we  feel  in  being 
republicans,  ought  to  be  our  zeal  in  cherishing  the  spirit  and  sup 
porting  the  character  of  federalists." 

JAMES  MADISON. 

"  That  there  may  happen  cases  in  which  the  national  govern 
ment  may  be  under  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  force,  cannot  be 
denied.  Our  own  experience  has  corroborated  the  lessons  taught 
by  the  examples  of  other  nations,  that  emergencies  of  this  sort 
will  sometimes  exist  in  all  societies  however  constituted.  Should 
such  emergencies  at  any  time  happen  under  the  national  govern 
ment,  there  could  be  no  remedy  but  force.  The  means  to  be  em 
ployed  must  be  proportioned  to  the  extent  of  the  mischief. 

"An  insurrection,  whatever  may  be  its  cause,  eventually  endan 
gers  all  government." 

ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 


MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  read  attentively  your  late  "  Letter  to  a  Friend  in 
a  Slave  State,"  and  have  experienced  some  pleasure  from 
the  sprightliness  of  the  style,  the  copiousness  of  the  illus 
tration,  and  the  vigor  which  characterizes  the  greater  part 
of  the  performance.  Indeed,  I  may  frankly  say,  that 
to  my  mind,  it  is  the  best  of  the  Secession  pamphlets 
which  have  as  yet  issued  from  our  Northern  press.  You 
have  not  employed  your  time  amid  the  convulsions  which 
shake  our  unhappy  country,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
most  important  events  which  have  transpired  in  the  world 
since  the  downfall  of  Buonaparte,  in  criticising  the  rheto 
rical  inelegancies  of  official  dispatches,  or  stooped  to  the 
invidious  office  of  sneering  at  the  President  and  his 
u  social  meridian,"  or  ridiculing  the  names  of  his  subordi 
nates.  Your  work,  such  as  it  is,  has  a  higher  aim,  and 
has  been  performed  in  a  more  manly  manner.  This  ex 
cellence  I  willingly  accord  it, — that  its  attack  upon  the 
Government  of  your  country,  if  ill-timed  and  unpatriotic, 
is  at  any  rate  fearless  and  open.  If  unjust  and  pernicious, 
it  is  at  least  dignified  and  decorous.  If  breathing  the 
spirit  of  the  political  partisan,  it  nevertheless  does  not  con 
descend  to  subjects  unworthy  of  the  reflections  of  the 
patriot. 

The  merits  to  which  I  have  alluded  entitle  you  to  a 
reply.  While  they  render  the  views  which  you  hold  only 
the  more  insidious  and  dangerous  to  the  public  mind,  they, 


819 


for  that  very  reason,  furnish  me  with  a  sufficient  apology 
for  making  that  reply. 

It  was  observed  by  archdeacon  Paley,  in  his  Horee  Pau- 
linse,  that  amidst  the  obscurities,  the  silence,  or  the  contra 
diction  of  history,  if  a  Letter  can  be  found,  we  regard  it  as 
the  discovery  of  a  landmark  by  which  we  can  correct, 
adjust,  or  supply  the  imperfections  and  uncertainties  of 
other  accounts.  The  future  historian  of  the  United  States, 
if  in  his  researches  his  eye  should  fall  upon  your  Letter, 
will,  I  fear,  be  in  some  doubt  in  regard  to  the  landmark 
which  you  have  left  by  the  roadside  of  the  present  time. 
While  he  will  observe  that  you  proclaim  yourself  the 
friend  of  the  Union,  he  will  at  the  same  time  perceive  that 
your  talents  are  chiefly  devoted  to  an  elaborate  apology  for 
the  traitors  who  vainly  attempt  to  destroy  it ;  he  will  re 
mark,  that  while  you  concede  that  the  war  forced  upon 
the  Government  by  the  insurrection  at  the  South  is  an 
unavoidable  necessity,  you  at  the  same  time  denounce  the 
Government  for  prosecuting  it ;  that  while  in  your  latest 
sentence  you  express  yourself  in  favor  of  carrying  on  the 
war,  you  at  the  same  time  labor  to  prove  that  it  is  hope 
less  in  its  objects  and  ruinous  in  its  results — that  while 
you  counsel  conciliation  and  compromise,  you  yet  stead 
fastly  declare  your  belief  that  "  the  government  at  Rich 
mond  will  not  listen  to  any  terms  of  arrangement  which 
the  North  could,  would,  or  ought  to  enter  into."  Under 
embarrassments  so  great,  the  future  chronicler  of  the  times 
may  well  put  down  your  pages  in  despair,  and  seek  to  ad 
just  his  difficulties  by  other  standards. 

The  key  to  these  glaring  inconsistencies  into  which  you 
have  fallen,  is  not  difficult  to  be  found.  The  cause  is  too 
bad  to  be  benefited  by  your  skill.  You  dare  not  defend 
the  Southern  treason  upon  the  Southern  argument.  You 
could  not  defend  it  upon  any  other.  The  origin  and  mo 
tives  of  this  rebellion  are  so  clearly  written  in  the  history 


of  the  past,  and  are  so  well  understood  by  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania,  that  you  could  not  undertake  the  arduous 
task  of  justifying  it.  You  must  therefore  extenuate  it. 
Your  sense  of  justice,  too,  I  may  add,  would  not  allow  you 
wholly  to  condemn  the  war  which  is  waged  in  defence  of 
the  Union  and  the  Constitution.  At  the  same  time  your 
dislike  to  the  Administration  to  which  the  government  of 
the  country  has  been  confided  by  the  people,  is  so  strong, 
and  your  anxiety  in  reference  to  the  political  results  of 
"  the  next  Congressional  election"  to  which  you  refer,  so 
great,  that  old  prejudices  have  for  the  time  triumphed  over 
patriotic  impulse;  and  justice,  reason  and  the  truth  of 
history,  have  alike  been  compelled  to  give  way  before  the 
exactions  of  party  spirit.  True,  the  war  has  been  forced 
upon  the  Government;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  administers  the 
Government ;  the  Government  must  be  condenmed  at  all 
hazards,  and  therefore  the  war  must  be  condemned. 

You  declare  in  your  Letter  to  your  friend  in  a  Slave 
State,  with  a  confidence  which  your  sincerity  may  perhaps 
pardon,  that  the  views  which  you  promulgate  are  the 
opinions  of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania.  Have  you  for 
gotten  that  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  voted  by  an  over 
whelming  majority  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  whose  political  prin 
ciples  you  arraign'?  Is  it  within  your  knowledge  that 
Pennsylvania  has  sent  to  the  war  a  larger  force  than  any 
other  State,  and  that  every  man  of  them  is  a  volunteer  I 
You  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  she  has  contributed 
already  more  than  100,000  men  for  the  defence  of  the 
Government.  Are  you  aware  that  her  Legislature  has 
formally  approved  of  the  war,  and  pledged  the  State  and 
its  resources  to  its  vigorous  prosecution  1*  You  have  not 
been  an  inattentive  observer  of  the  spirit  which  animates 
her  people.  You  cannot  have  forgotten  their  indignant 

*  Resolutions  of  18th  April,  1861,  and  24th  January,  1861. 


attitude  as  they  sprang  to  arms  after  the  insult  of  the  13th 
of  April.  You  must  have  witnessed  the  anxiety  with 
which  their  eyes  have  followed  the  flag  of  their  country 
amid  the  smoke  and  carnage  of  battle,  the  joy  which  has 
followed  in  the  wake  of  victory,  the  gloom  which  has  suc 
ceeded  every  reverse.  Is  this  the  posture,  and  are  these 
the  signs  of  a  people  who  sympathize  with  the  enemies  of 
their  country  ?  By  what  warrant,  then,  do  you  impute  to 
the  people  of  this  State  the  sentiments  conveyed  in  your 
letter  to  your  Southern  friend  I  It  was  by  such  misrepre 
sentations  of  public  sentiment  at  the  North  that  the  con 
spirators  at  Washington,  who  planned  the  rebellion,  were 
enabled  at  the  outset  to  impose  upon  the  credulity  of  the 
South,  and  to  plunge  them  into  this  disastrous  war. 
•  But  before  I  proceed  to  notice  more  particularly  some 
of  the  topics  upon  which  you  discourse  at  much  length  in 
your  letter,  I  must  be  indulged  in  one  or  two  observations 
of  a  general  character.  In  the  first  place,  your  attack 
upon  the  existing  Government  of  the  country  must,  I 
think,  strike  all  candid  men  as  being  exceedingly  ill-timed 
and  unpatriotic  at  the  present  moment.  Whatever,  in 
your  opinion,  may  be  the  faults  of  that  Government,  you 
are  aware  that  it  is  now  engaged  in  putting  down  a  most 
formidable  insurrection  against  the  laws.  This  great  object 
tasks  all  its  resources  and  demands  all  its  energies.  For 
this  purpose  it  labors  day  and  night  with  unceasing  activity. 
In  the  pursuit  of  this  object,  disregarding  the  lines  which 
have  hitherto  defined  political  organizations,  it  has  ap 
pointed  to  posts  of  honor  and  responsibility  many  distin 
guished  men  of  your  own  party.  Is' it  a  proper  time,  then, 
I  may  be  allowed  to  ask,  to  endeavor  to  revive  political 
animosities  I  Is  it  the  part  of  patriotism  to  seek  to  sow 
disaffection  to  the  Government,  to  destroy  its  efficiency, 
and  to  embarrass  its  operations  when  traitors  are  in  the 


field  I  I  know  not  how  it  may  appear  to  you,  but  by  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania  the  business  in  which  you  have 
embarked  will,  I  think,  be  regarded  in  a  light  which  will 
bring  neither  glory  to  you  nor  satisfaction  to  themselves. 
There  are  times  of  trial  in  the  history  of  every  nation, 
eventful  periods,  in  which  its  strength  is  tried,  and  upon 
which  hangs  the  very  question  of  its  national  existence ; 
periods  in  which  its  integrity  is  threatened  by  external 
force,  or  in  which  the  elements  of  internal  disorder  are 
let  loose  to  upturn  the  foundations  of  the  State.  At 
such  times  it  would  seem  to  be  the  part  of  patriotism 
to  stand  by  the  Government,  to  forget  for  the  time  all 
minor  differences  of  opinion,  to  overlook  faults  (for  ad 
ministrations,  which  are  but  men,  must  sometimes  err), 
to  lay  aside  the  prejudices  of  party,  and  to  give  our  best 
energies  to  the  assistance  of  the  Government  in  main 
taining  the  common  weal.  Such  a  period  has  now  arrived 
in  the  history  of  the  country.  The  very  fact  of  our  na 
tional  existence  is  the  question  in  issue.  It  is  not  our 
fault  that  the  method  of  trial  is  the  ordeal  of  battle.  It 
is  now  to  be  determined,  not  only  for  ourselves,  but  for 
those  who  are  to  come  after  us,  whether  our  Constitution 
is  a  band  of  steel  or  a  wisp  of  hay ;  whether  the  plan  of 
Government  framed  for  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
with  so  much  care  and  deliberation,  by  the  venerated 
assembly  in  which  your  ancestor  sat,  is  a  plan  which  com 
bines  strength  with  utility,  or  whether  its  first  severe  trial 
is  to  prove  the  worthlessness  of  their  work.  In  a  word, 
the  question. is,  can  we  preserve  the  benign  and  free  Go 
vernment  transmitted  to  us  by  our  fathers,  or  shall  it  be 
thrown  down  by  insurrectionary  violence.  At  such  a  time, 
who  are  the  Greeks  upon  the  Circus  benches  while  the 
enemy  is  at  the  gates,  they  who  support  the  Government, 
or  they  who  find  amusement  in  exposing  its  faults  I  Surely, 


8 


if  at  such  a  time  absolute  neutrality  is  not  a  virtue,  active 
sympathy  with  the  enemy  is  something  less. 

There  is  another  feature  in  your  performance  which  re 
quires  a  preliminary  remark.  An  effort  plainly  appears  to 
disparage  one  section  of  your  country.  You  dwell  with 
especial  pleasure  upon  the  intolerance  and  bigotry  of  New 
England.  You  recount  with  much  minuteness  of  detail 
the  opposition  of  Massachusetts  to  the  War  of  1812.  You 
linger  long  around  the"  famous  Hartford  Convention,  and 
you  invoke  afresh  those  ghosts  of  former  contests,  the  Per 
sonal  Liberty  Bills  of  the  East.  You  do  not  advert  to  the 
fact,  that  Pennsylvania  too  had  her  Personal  Liberty  Bill, 
and  always  has  had  since  her  celebrated  declaration  of 
1780.*  New  England  requires  no  defence  at  my  hands. 

*  "  When  we  contemplate  our  abhorrence  of  that  condition  to 
which  the  arms  and  tyranny  of  Great  Britain  were  exerted  to. re 
duce  us,  when  we  look  back  upon  the  variety  of  dangers  to  which 
we  have  been  exposed,  and  how  miraculously  our  wants  in  many 
instances  have  been  supplied,  and  our  deliverance  wrought  when 
even  hope  and  human  fortitude  have  become  unequal  to  the  con 
flict,  we  are  unavoidably  led  to  a  serious  and  grateful  sense  of  the 
manifold  blessings  which  AVC  have  undeservedly  received  from  the 
hand  of  that  Being  from  whom  every  good  and  perfect  gift  cometh. 
Impressed  with  these  ideas,  we  conceive  that  it  is  our  duty,  and 
we  rejoice  that  it  is  in  our  power,  to  extend  a  portion  of  that  free 
dom  to  others,  which  hath  been  extended  to  us,  and  release  them  from 
that  state  of  thraldom  to  which  we  ourselves  were  tyrannically 
doomed,  and  from  which  we  have  now  every  prospect  of  being  de 
livered.  It  is  not  fo*r  us  to  inquire  why,  in  the  creation  of  man 
kind,  the  inhabitants  of  the  several  parts  of  the  earth,  were  distin 
guished  by  a  difference  in  feature  or  complexion.  It  is  sufficient 
to  know,  that  all  are  the  work  of  an  Almighty  Hand.  We  find  in 
the  distribution  of  the  human  species  that  the  most  fertile  as  well 
as  the  most  barren  parts  of  the  earth  are  inhabited  by  men  of  com 
plexions  different  from  ours,  and  from  each  other;  from  whence  we 
may  reasonably  as  well  as  religiously  infer,  that  He  who  placed 
them  in  their  various  situations,  hath  extended  equally  His  care 
and  protection  to  all,  and  that  it  becometh  not  us  to  counteract 


It  is,  as  we  all  know,  the  home  of  virtue,  of  intelligence, 
and  of  law.  Her  commerce,  and  the  patient  industry  of 
her  sons  has  filled  her  homes  with  thrifty  happiness,  and 
the  world  with  the  products  of  her  ingenious  toil.  Her 
hand  has  ever  been  ready  in  the  cause  of  human  progress ; 
her  foot  ever  foremost  in  the  march  of  freedom.  She  was 
first  at  Lexington  in  1775.  She  was  first  at  Baltimore  in 
1861.  She  was  at  Yorktown  in  1781.  She  is  at  York- 
town  in  1862.  It  was  not  my  lot  to  have  been  born  upon 
the  soil  of  New  England.  On  the  contrary  I  may  state,  if 
it  will  at  all  recommend  me  to  your  esteem,  that,  although 
I  do  not,  like  your  correspondent,  reside  in  a  Slave  State, 
I  was  born  in  one,  and  in  that  one  which  you  appear 
to  fear  may  be  supplanted  in  the  affections  of  Pennsyl 
vania  by  Massachusetts.  But  there  are  in  Pennsylvania, 
many  descendants  of  New  England  families.  Our  northern 
tier  of  counties  was,  as  you  know,  settled  by  New  Eng 
land  people,  and  many  of  the  most  illustrious  citizens  of 
the  town  we  live  in  were,  as  you  are  aware,  natives  of  New 
England,  or  the  sons  of  such.  You  are  yourself,  if  I  am 
correctly  informed,  lineally  removed,  but  by  a  single  gene 
ration,  from  a  distinguished  Connecticut  ancestry.  Vir 
ginia  is  not  the  enemy  of  Massachusetts.  They  have 

His  mercies.  We  esteem  it  a  peculiar  blessing  granted  to  us,  that 
we  are  enabled  this  day  to  add  one  more  step  to  universal  civiliza 
tion,  by  removing  as  much  as  possible  the  sorrows  of  those,  who 
have  lived  in  undeserved  bondage,  and  from  which,  by  the  assumed 
authority  of  the  Kings  of  Great  Britain,  no.  effectual  legal  relief 
could  be  obtained.  Weaned  by  a  long  course  of  experience  from 
those  narrow  prejudices  and  partialities  we  had  imbibed,  we  find 
our  hearts  enlarged  with  kindness  and  benevolence  towards  men 
of  all  conditions  and  nations,  and  we  conceive  ourselves  at  this 
particular  period,  extraordinarily  called  upon,  by  the  blessings 
which  we  have  received,  to  manifest  the  sincerity  of  our  profes 
sion,  and  to  give  a  substantial  proof  of  our  gratitude." — Preamble  to 
Act  1  March,  1780,  abolishing  Slavery  in  Pennsylvania. 


10 

been  friends  in  many  a  contest.  Virginia  stands  in  no 
need  of  your  praise,  or  Massachusetts  of  mine.  We  should 
be  proud  to  be  citizens  of  a  country  which  embraces  them 
both,  and  inheritors  of  a  history  which  both  have  made 
famous  by  deeds  of  virtue,  magnanimity,  and  valor. 
Why  then  should  the  present  opportunity  be  embraced 
to  arouse  sectional  antipathies,  to  decry  one  extremity  of 
the  Union,  or  to  express  invidious  preferences  for  another  I 
The  struggle  we  are  engaged  in  is  for  the  common  benefit. 
The  men  of  Massachusetts  are  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
the  men  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  field.  The  blood  of  Win- 
throp  mingles  with  that  of  Greble  on  the  plains  of  Hamp 
ton.  Loyal  men  everywhere  are  astir.  From  the  Cum 
berland  to  the  St.  Croix  they  swarm  to  the  support  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union.  Shall  we  who  stay  at  home 
follow  them  with  our  prayers  and  blessings,  with  words  of 
cheer  and  kindly  deeds,  or  shall  we  seek  to  sow  distrust, 
dislike,  and  dissension  at  home,  while  they,  amid  privation 
and  death,  maintain  the  flag  on  hardfought  fields  ? 

But  to  come  now  to  the  main  topic  of  your  discourse. 
Its  aim,  as  you  declare  it,  is  to  show  that  conciliation  should 
be  the  policy  of  the  Government ;  or,  as  you  put  it  in  ano 
ther  place,  "  The  question  for  the  country  is,  war  or  com 
promise  V9  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  question  is 
not  who  is  to  blame  for  the  war,  though  that  is  not  a  ques 
tion  admitting  of  any  doubt,  although  you  vainly  attempt 
to  transfer  the  guilt  from  the  true  conspirators  to  imaginary 
ones.  But  the  question  is,  whether  the  rebellion  shall  be 
put  down  by  force  of  arms,  or  whether  we  shall  trust  to 
offers  of  conciliation  to  effect  it.  You  advocate  the  latter 
opinion,  and  to  sustain  it,  you  endeavor  to  prove  that  the 
triumph  of  the  Federal  arms,  and  the  restoration  of  law, 
order,  and  the  Constitution  in  the  Southern  States,  are  im 
possibilities.  You  do  not,  it  is  true,  suggest  any  terms  of 
compromise  yourself,  or  say  to  whom  they  are  to  be  pro- 


11 


posed.  You  declare  the  opinion  that  no  terms  which  could 
be  offered,  would  be  accepted  by  what  you  call  "  the  go 
vernment  at  Richmond."  To  whom  then  are  the  terms  of 
compromise  to  be  offered  ?  To  the  people  1  They  are  pow 
erless.  They  are  fast  bound  in  the  chains  of  a  military 
tyranny.  It  would  be  as  much  as  the  life  of  any  one  of 
them  is  worth  to  speak  of  the  possibility  of  any  compro 
mise  which  would  embrace  the  idea  of  Federal  union. 
The  only  people  in  the  South  who  have  it  in  their  power 
to  entertain  your  offers,  are  at  Yorktown,  at  Corinth,  and 
similar  places ;  but  they  are  people  with  guns  in  their 
hands,  living  in  curious  places  with  mud  walls  around 
them,  and  looking  out  of  windows  that  have  no  glass  in 
them.  Would  you  make  your  compromise  resolutions  to 
them'?  Try  it.  If  you  do,  you  will  be  referred  to  the 
chiefs  of  these  interesting  communities,  who  will  refer 
you  again  to  Richmond.  But  at  Richmond,  your  game, 
as  you  admit,  is  blocked.  You  cannot  move.  Recog 
nition  or  nothing ;  independence  or  the  last  ditch  is  there 
the  only  countersign  which  will  enable  you  to  pass.  That 
this  is  true  your  argument  admits,  as  indeed  it  could 
not  but  do,  for  they  have  themselves,  in  their  mock  Con 
gress  and  rebel  gatherings,  expressly  so  defined  their  posi 
tion. 

But  if  you  should  succeed  at  last  in  finding  any  medium 
by  which  you  could  communicate  your  offers  to  the  people, 
what  is  the  compromise  you  would  propose ?  You  have 
not  told  us  in  your  letter,  and  until  you  do,  we  have  de 
rived  little  benefit  from  your  suggestion.  Your  attach 
ment  for  the  Union  is  so  great  that  you  certainly  would 
propose  no  terms  which  would  compromise  the  unity  of  the 
States.  You  could  not  of  course  expect  any  administra 
tion,  even  a  Republican  one,  to  do  that.  What  then  would 
you  offer!  Let  us  have  your  proposition.  Speak  out  your 
"  amicable  adjustment."  You  are  silent.  You  cannot 


12 

offer  independence  and  division.  You  feel  that  there  is 
nothing  else  worth  offering.  Yet  you  advise  the  President 
to  write  Conciliation  and  Compromise  upon  the  colors  of 
the  Union.  Your  readers  will  probably  doubt  the  efficacy 
of  these  fine  phrases  upon  the  enemy,  unless  indeed  the 
colors  are  followed  closely,  as  they  now  are,  by  Parrott  and 
Dahlgren  batteries. 

It  is  too  late  and  too  early  for  conciliation.  The  time 
has  past.  The  time  has  not  come.  As  for  compromise,  if 
you  intend  by  it  the  surrender  of  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution,  you  must  determine  which  is  the  best, — the 
Constitution  maintained  and  established  by  Avar,  or  peace 
without  the  Constitution,  and  therefore  without  govern 
ment,  and  therefore  with  war.  It  is  idle  to  talk  about  the 
Constitution,  and  at  the  same  time  to  propose  to  yield  it 
up  to  traitors  by  conciliation.  The  Constitution  cannot  be 
preserved  by  conciliation  against  bayonets,  cannon,  and 
300,000  soldiers.  History  teaches  that  under  such  cir 
cumstances  as  those  in  which  we  now  find  ourselves,  force  is 
the  only  safe  conciliator ;  numbers,  skill,  and  cannon,  the 
only  referees.  For  a  Government  to  maintain  its  authority 
is  the  condition  of  the  existence  of  its  authority,  and  there 
fore  of  itself;  or  as  it  is  tersely  expressed  by  Sir  James 
Mackintosh :  "  Every  State  must  maintain  its  honor,  be 
cause  it  is  essential  to  its  safety."  Measures  may  be  sur 
rendered,  principles  of  administration  may  he  compromised, 
but  a  compromise  of  an  established  and  invaded  Constitu 
tion  in  the  presence  and  under  the  duress  of  arms,  is  not  a 
compromise  but  a  surrender.  It  is  insurrection  victorious ; 
that  is,  it  is  revolution. 

The  cases  which  you  put  from  history  are  singularly  in 
felicitous  to  your  argument.  It  was  no  part  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  Germanic  Empire  that  Protestants  should 
be  burnt.  It  required  no  sacrifi.ce  of  it  therefore  on  the 
part  of  the  Emperor  that  religious  toleration  should  be  ex- 


13 

tended  to  his  subjects.  George  III  lost  his  American 
colonies,  not  by  enforcing  the  British  Constitution,  but  by 
violating  one  of  its  fundamental  principles,  viz.,  that  re 
presentation  and  taxation  are  reciprocal.  James  II  was 
driven  from  the  throne,  not  for  defending  the  Constitution, 
but  for  conspiring  against  it.  Napoleon  Buonaparte  ruined 
himself,  not  by  adhering  to  the  first  principles  of  govern 
ment,  but  by  violating  them.  A  compromise  with  his 
foreign  enemies  would  have  involved  no  violation  of  fixed 
principles,  but  a  return  to  them.  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  was  formed,  it  is  true,  by  compromises  ;  but  is 
it  a  corollary  from  that  that  it  must  be  broken  by  com 
promises,  or,  in  other  words,  that  it  is  to  be  preserved  by 
breaking  it  I 

The  advice  you  give  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
is,  to  compromise  in  some  unmentioned  manner  and  upon 
some  impossible  terms  (for  you  do  not  venture  to  hint  at 
them),  with  bands  of  armed  insurgents,  who  have  plun 
dered  the  public  property,  destroyed  the  peace  and  pros 
perity  of  the  country,  and  slain  and  subjected  to  cruel  tor 
ture  many  of  its  loyal  citizens.  Men  who  have  set  up  a 
mock  government,  which  they  make  the  agent  of  their 
despotism;  who  have  delegated  a  pretended  authority  to 
bands  of  desperate  men  to  burn  and  destroy  our  ships ;  who 
have  slandered  your  Government  in  every  court  of  Europe ; 
who  have  robbed  the  arsenals,  the  dock-yards,  and  the  trea 
sury  ;  who  have  called  to  their  bloody  work  the  savages  of 
our  Western  frontier  ;*  who  boasted  that  they  would  burn 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston,  and  call  the  roll  of 
their  slaves  on  the  spot  on  which  Warren  fell.  They  are 
men  who,  driven  from  one  cover  to  another  by  the  soldiers 

*  Have  you  read  the  order  of  General  Pike,  thanking  his  savage 
allies  for  their  gallantry  in  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge  ?  If  so,  did  you 
read  what  these  Indians  did  at  Pea  Ridge  ? 


14 

of  the  Union,  still  stand  with  arms  in  their  hands  defying 
the  Government  and  the  law,  spreading  desolation  wher 
ever  they  pass,  and  mingling  the  innocent  and  the  guilty, 
the  loyal  and  disloyal,  in  a  common  ruin.  Such  are  the 
men  in  behalf  of  whom  your  sympathies  are  aroused,  whose 
guilt  you  palliate,  before  whom  you  would  throw  down 
your  arms,  whom  you  would  tempt  to  their  duty  by  the 
empty  sound  of  conciliation,  and  for  whom  you  are  con 
tent  to  denounce  the  constituted  authorities  of  your  coun 
try.  What  does  it  signify  that  many  sincere  persons  in  the 
South,  led  astray  by  the  acts  of  designing  men,  uphold  and 
maintain  this  course  of  conduct]  This  only  shows  that 
Yancey  and  his  fellow-conspirators  succeeded  at  last  in 
their  plans  of  "  firing  the  Southern  heart,  and  precipitat 
ing"  their  dupes  into  rebellion.  Shall  loyal  men  on  that 
account  give  way  to  their  insane  fury,  and  suffer  the  Go 
vernment  to  be  torn  down,  or  to  have  its  heart  eaten  out 
by  your  nostrum  of  conciliation  1 

But  you  say  the  question  is  not  between  men,  but  be 
tween  nations ;  and  so  says  Jefferson  Davis.  I  respectfully 
deny  it.  The  Constitution  is  not  a  league  between  States, 
but  a  Government  for  the  people.  Such  was  its  design 
in  its  origin.  Such  it  is  in  the  plan  of  its  operation, 
and  in  the  mode  of  its  administration.  Government  im 
plies  the  power  of  making  laws.  The  laws  of  the  United 
States  are  made  not  for  the  States,  but  for  the  people  of 
the  United  States.  The  Constitution  is  not  a  Constitution 
made  by  States,  but,  as  it  declares,  by  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  Says  Mr.  Madison,  in  the  end  of  that 
able  chapter  recounting  the  failures  of  ancient  confedera 
cies  :  "  Experience  is  the  oracle  of  truth,  and  where  its 
responses  are  unequivocal,  they  ought  to  be  conclusive  and 
sacred.  The  important  truth  which  it  unequivocally  pro 
nounces  in  the  present  case  is,  that  a  sovereignty  over  so- 


15 


vereigns,  a  government  over  governments,  a  legislation  for 
communities,  as  contradistinguished  from  individuals  ;  as  it 
is  a  solecism  in  theory,  so  in  practice  it  is  subversive  of  the 
order  and  ends  of  civil  polity."*  Says  Mr.  Hamilton  in 
enumerating  the  advantages  of  the  proposed  Constitution 
over  the  system  of  the  Confederation  which  preceded  it: 
"  The  great  and  radical  vice  in  the  construction  of  the  ex 
isting  Confederation,  is  in  the  principle  of  legislation  for 
States  or  Governments  in  their  corporate  or  collective  ca 
pacities,  and  as  contradistinguished  from  the  individuals  of 
whom  they  consist ;"  arid  thence  he  proceeds  to  argue  that 
by  adopting  the  Constitution  we  will  "  incorporate  into  one 
plan  those  ingredients  which  may  be  considered  as  forming 
the  characteristic  difference  between  a  league  and  a  govern 
ment,"  and  "  extend  the  authority,  of  the  Union  to  the 
persons  of  the  citizens — the  only  proper  objects  of  govern 
ment,  "f  And  again,  in  a  passage  which  is  strikingly  appo 
site  to  the  present  occasion :  "  However  gross  a  heresy  it 
may  be  to  maintain  that  a  party  to  a  compact  has  a  right 
to  revoke  that  compact,  the  doctrine  itself  has  had  respect 
able  advocates.  The  possibility  of  a  question  of  this  nature 
proves  the  necessity  of  laying  the  foundations  of  our  national 
Government  deeper  than  in  the  mere  sanction  of  delegated 
authority.  The  fabric  of  American  empire  ought  to  rest 
on  the  solid  basis  of  the  consent  of  the  people.  The 
streams  of  national  power  ought  to  flow  immediately  from 
that  pure,  original  fountain  of  all  legitimate  authority.''^ 

The  United  States  are  engaged  in  a  war  not  with  States, 
but  with  armed  bands  of  individuals  who  set  the  law  at 
defiance.  It  does  not  a  whit  alter  the  fact  that  these  indi 
viduals  have  obtained,  in  some  States,  the  control  of  the 
local  government,  and  use  it  for  purposes  hostile  to  the 
National  Government.  Still  the  war  is  against  rebels,  and 

*  Federalist,  No.  20.  f  Ib.  No.  15.  J  Ib.  No.  22. 


16 

not  against  States.  The  Federal  Government  seeks  no 
interference  with  the  States,  so  long  as  they  continue  in 
their  proper  orbits.  So  long  as  their  powers  are  exercised 
within  the  sphere  of  their  legitimate  influence,  and  not 
used  by  rebels  to  overthrow  the  Constitution  of  the  people, 
they  might  administer  their  domestic  affairs  without  inter 
ruption  or  hindrance  from  the  General  Government,  as 
they  have  done  for  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century. 
But  if  their  powers  are  seized  upon  by  insurgents,  and 
employed  to  overthrow  the  Constitution  of  the  common 
government,  their  rights  are  in  no  wise  infringed  by  pre 
venting  such  a  perversion  of  their  powers,  and  by  re 
straining  such  unconstitutional  action.  If,  in  order  to  do 
this,  it  is  necessary  to  displace  from  their  usurped  power 
the  agents  who  so  wield  it,  who  can  lawfully  complain  of 
the  action  of  the  General  Government  1  If  it  be  true,  as 
the  Constitution  declares  in  its  Sixth  Article,  that  this 
Constitution  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  what  other 
law  shall  be  allowed  to  override  it  1  Have  the  people  or 
dained  a  government  with  no  means  of  preserving  it,  or  a 
supreme  law  with  no  sanctions  to  defend  it  I  No.  The 
Constitution  is  not  a  league.  It  is  a  law.  It  is  not  only 
a  law ;  it  is  the  supreme  law.  They  who  violate  this  law 
are  responsible  as  individuals  for  their  crime.  They  cannot 
shelter  themselves  under  a  usurped  authority,  or  the  pre 
tended  regularity  of  conventional  or  legislative  action 
which  violates  the  Constitution.  Such  action  is  an  un 
lawful  exercise  of  authority,  and  unlawful  authority  is  no 
authority.  The  parties  to  the  war,  then,  are  not  States, 
but  individuals,  on  the  one  part,  and  the  Government  on 
the  other.  It  matters  not  for  the  argument  how  numerous 
these  individuals  may  be.  They  are  still  individuals.  If 
numerous  enough  to  overthrow  the  common  Government 
they  effect  a  revolution.  If  not,  they  are  baffled  insurgents, 
guilty  of  treason. 


Here  let  me  pause  for  a  moment  to  remark  upon  a  sub 
ject  by  no  means  necessary  to  the  consideration  of  the 
question  we  are  upon,  but  from  which  you  appear  to  derive 
considerable  satisfaction.  You  say  that  Mr.  Lincoln, 
twelve  years  ago,  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  right  of  revolution.  This  is  urged  for  one  of  two 
purposes,  either  to  disparage  the  President  for  mere  selfish 
party  ends,  or  as  an  apology  for  the  insurrection.  I  am 
unwilling  to  impute  to  you  the  former  motive.  For  the 
latter  purpose  it  obviously  amounts  to  nothing  as  an  argu 
ment.  But  I  must  be  allowed  to  say  that  your  treatment 
of  this  subject  displays  a  considerable  want  of  fairness  and 
of  candor.  The  subject  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  discussion  in  the 
debate  alluded  to  was  the  revolution  of  Mexico  against 
Spain  and  of  Texas  against  Mexico.  Because  Mr.  Lincoln 
maintained  the  right  of  revolution  against  bad  government, 
it  does  not  follow  that  revolution  or  insurrection  against  a 
good  one  is  justifiable.  Besides,  it  is  quite  apparent  that 
Mr.  Lincoln's  opinions  in  1848  are  quite  aside  from  the 
merits  of  the  present  question.  To  justify  the  insurrec 
tion,  or  to  apologize  for  it,  you  must  show  that  they  have 
undertaken  it  for  justifiable  reasons.  This  you  do  not 
attempt. 

Nor  do  you  advance  a  single  step  in  your  advocacy  of 
rebellion  when  you  refer  to  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky 
Resolutions  of  1798,  the  New  England  troubles  of  1812-14, 
or  the  South  Carolina  Nullification  of  1832.  Discontent 
with  measures  of  state  is,  the  fruitful  parent  of  disorder.  It 
has  prevailed  at  times  in  all  States.  It  has  many  times 
shaken  governments  to  their  foundations ;  sometimes  over 
thrown  them.  But  you  cannot  thence  derive  either  a  jus 
tification  or  an  apology  for  the  present  rebellion.  There 
existed  no  grievance  which  either  justified  or  excused  this 
ultima  ratio, — the  right  of  revolution.  At  the  very  time 
the  conspiracy  took  form  and  substance,  the  question  of 


18 


slavery  or  freedom  in  the  Territories  was  a  question  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  South  and  their  Northern  ally,  the 
Democratic  party.  Combined  they  had  a  clear  majority  in 
Congress.  They  were  in  possession  of  the  National  Legis 
lature.  They  were  in  possession  of  the  National  Court. 
What,  then,  had  they  to  fear  from  the  principles  of  the 
President  I  Nothing  whatever.  Nor  was  it  fear  which 
set  them  in  motion.  The  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was,  as 
is  notorious,  a  circumstance  anxiously  expected  and  greed 
ily  seized  upon  by  the  conspirators  to  commence  their 
work  of  "  precipitation."  The  pretext  was,  alas,  but  too 
successful  in  the  hands  of  the  Cotton  State  politicians. 
From  their  secret  conclaves  in  Washington  they  raised  their 
false  and  hypocritical  clamor  of  danger  to  the  South,  and 
propagated  it  by  every  art  of  deception  and  alarm.  The 
cabal  in  South  Carolina  responded  readily  to  their  signal. 
The  imbecility  of  President  Buchanan,  the  collusion  of 
several  of  his  ministers,  and  the  treachery  of  the  Vice- 
President,  were  unfortunately  propitious  coincidents  to 
their  nefarious  schemes.  They  were  accomplished.  The 
Southern  people  were  successfully  deceived,  and  were 
ruined  by  the  representatives  whom  they  had  chosen  to 
guard  their  rights !  The  man  who  plays  the  part  of  the 
mock-president  at  Richmond,  at  that  time  a  Senator,  with 
the  oath  of  fealty  to  the  Constitution  yet  fresh  upon  his 
tongue,  was,  as  now  appears  by  the  letter  of  ^Senator  Yulee, 
the  principal  conspirator  of  them  all.  Had  he  anything  to 
gain  by  his  treason  ]  You  shall  decide. 

It  is  in  vain,  therefore,  that  you  strive  to  extenuate,  upon 
the  grounds  you  mention,  the  guilt  of  those  who  have  made 
war  upon  the  Government  of  their  country.  There  are  no 
doubt  many  sincere  people  at  the  South  who  support  the 
rebellion.  But  they  have  been  deceived,  and  in  their  de 
ception  is  the  only  palliation  of  their  course.  That  decep 
tion  will  as  assuredly  be  exposed,  as  that  truth  will 


19 


triumph  over  falsehood,  and  time  expose  the  contrivances 
of  the  wicked. 

But  the  war  for  the  Union  and  the  Constitution,  you 
say,  cannot  be  successful,  and  you  enumerate  many  difficul 
ties,  some  of  which,  I  admit,  are  great.  Others  are  rapidly 
disappearing  before  the  crowding  events  of  the  day.  But 
there  is  one  sentence  in  your  letter  which  sweeps  away  all 
your  theories :  "  The  South,"  you  say,  "  it  would  be  strange 
indeed  were  it  otherwise,  will  make  peace,  if  it  be  honor 
able  and  fair,  not  following  their  programme  and  omitting 
disunion."  No  reasonable  man  can  expect  that  that  dispo 
sition,  which  you  so  confidently  predict,  will  be  extensively 
developed,  until  time  has  decided  the  strength  of  the  con 
tending  parties.  Until  that  has  been  done,  and  the  leaders, 
who  for  selfish  purposes,  direct  the  storm,  are  driven  from 
their  positions  of  power  and  influence,  there  is  nobody  who 
can  be  treated  with.  When  that  is  accomplished,  one  of  the 
difficulties,  and  the  greatest  which  you  enumerate,  viz., 
"the  two  governments,  the  Government  at  Washington 
and  the  government  at  Richmond,"  will  be  removed. 
There  will  then  be  as  heretofore,  but  one  Government  and 
one  people.  When  the  Government  is  triumphant  and  the 
Constitution  vindicated,  the  Southern  people  will  enjoy  all 
their  constitutional  rights.  It  is  the  fault  of  their  false 
leaders  if  they  are  deprived  of  them  now.  Their  betrayal 
lies  at  their  own  door,  and  not  at  that  of  the  Government. 

You  charge  upon  the  Republican  party  the  present  dis 
asters  of  the  country,  and  this,  as  I  have  already  said,  seems 
to  be  the  key  to  your  attack  upon  the  Government,  your 
opposition  to  the  war  for  the  Union  and  the  Constitu 
tion,  your  undisguised  enmity  to  the  North,  and  your 
sympathy  with  Secession.  It  appears  to  me,  that  in  a 
crisis  like  the  present,  the  discussion  of  party  politics 
should  be  laid  aside,  and  our  inquiries  directed  not  so 
much  to  the  consideration  of  who  is  to  blame,  as  to  the 


20 

means  of  maintaining  the  Constitution  and  putting  down 
the  rebellion  against  it.  You  are  of  a  different  opinion,  and 
think  that  the  cause  of  the  country  is  to  be  best  served  by 
a  return  to  the  arts  of  political  controversy  and  the  re 
newal  of  partisan  strife.  If  you  would  not  have  us  sit 
upon  the  benches  of  the  Circus,  while  the  enemy  is  at  the 
gates,  you  have  no  objection  to  a  fight  among  ourselves  in 
the  arena.  I  do  not  design  to  follow  you  in  this  example. 
Yet  justice  to  a  great  and  powerful  party,  and  the  truth 
of  history,  render  it  not  improper  that  I  should  call  to 
your  recollection  a  few  forgotten  facts.  The  beginning  of 
the  difficulty,  by  your  own  showing,  was  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  Who  repealed  that  measure  and  set 
the  country  aflame  ]  The  truth  of  history  compels  me  to 
answer,  —  the  Democ/atic  party  of  the  North  assisted  by 
Southern  votes.  Who  endeavored  to  force  Slavery  upon 
Kansas  against  the  wishes  of  her  people  1  A  Democratic 
President.  Who  was  the  imbecile  or  willing  nurse  of  Se 
cession  at  its  birth'?  A  Democratic  President.  Who 
leads  a  brigade  of  traitors  now  I  A  Democratic  Vice-Pre 
sident,  who  was  also  the  nominee  of  a  Democratic  conven 
tion  for  the  Presidency.  Who  sits  in  the  mournful  gloom 
of  the  palace  of  "  the  government  at  Richmond,"  or 

-  "  walks  with  uneasy  steps 


Over  the  burning  marie  ?" 

•"":•••  • 

A  Democratic  Senator.  Who  has  been  in  modern  times 
the  foster-mother  of  Slavery,  yielding  to  all  its  imperious 
exactions  and  teaching  it,  that  by  long  custom  it  had  the 
right  to  rule,  and  that  the  Government  was  its  rightful  in 
heritance  1  The  Democratic  party.  But  I  forbear. 

The  Republican  party  is  neither  an  Abolition  party  or 
in  the  possession  of  Abolitionists.  Its  existence  is  of  recent 
date.  Its  history,  therefore,  and  the  causes  which  forced 
it  into  being,  are  too  well  known  to  require  repetition 


21 

here.  Its  leading  principles,  as  I  understand  them,  are, 
1st.  Constitutional  justice  to  all  the  States,  and  non-inter 
ference  in  the  Slave  States.  2d.  Prohibition  of  the  exten 
sion  of  Slavery  to  free  territory  belonging  to  the  United 
States.  This  last  power  they  understand  to  be  conferred 
upon  Congress  by  the  Constitution.  The  Breckenridge 
fragment  of  the  Democratic  party  denied  it;  but  when 
they  appealed  to  the  people,  the  verdict  was  against  them, 
and  they  made  war  upon  the  people.  It  is  in  vain  that 
the  enemies  of  the  Republican  party  attempt  to  pervert 
the  truth  of  history,  and  to  lay  upon  them  the  fault  of  the 
war.  Excepting  that  the  representative  of  their  principles 
had  been  elevated  by  the  people  to  the  chief  executive 
office,  they  were  powerless  at  the  moment  of  the  war ;  for 
in  Congress  they  were  in  a  minority.  The  war  was  not 
made  by  slaveholders,  and  therefore,  was  not  made  by  those 
whose  chief  interest  it  might  seem  to  be  (though  really  it 
was  not)  to  oppose  the  Republican  party.  It  was  made  by 
ambitious  and  unprincipled  politicians,  who  deceived  and 
betrayed  the  slaveholding  interest  into  approval  of  a  step 
the  most  insane  and  desperate  that  could  have  been  taken. 
Nor  is  it  true,  as  you  charge,  that  the  Republican  party 
are  for  the  Union  without  the  Constitution.  They  have 
no  such  silly  creed.  They  maintain  the  Constitution — the 
whole  Constitution — not  perhaps  as  you  understand  it,  nor 
in  the  manner  in  which  your  late  candidate  for  the  Presi 
dency  is  now  maintaining  it,  but  as  the  fathers  who  made 
it  understood  it.  They  have  never  pretended  to  any  right 
of  interference  whatever  with  the  domestic  institutions  of 
the  Slave  States.  On  the  contrary  they  have  by  word  and 
act  continually  disclaimed  it.  The  recent  message  of  the 
President  to  Congress  is  but  a  fresh  and  reiterated  avowal 
of  the  same  principle.  On  the  other  hand,  they  find  in  the 
Constitution  no  warrant  for  planting  the  institution  of 
Slavery  by  authority  of  law  in  the  Territories  of  the  United 


22 

States  already  free.  They  do  find  that  the  Constitution 
has  delegated  to  Congress  authority  to  make  laws  for  the 
Territories  belonging  to  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise 
exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever  over  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  and  all  other  places  which  are  the  pro 
perty  of  the  United  States.  Their  principles  are  not  ag 
gressive:  they  are  conservative.  Their  field  of  action  is 
within  the  Constitution,  not  beyond  it. 

Your  ingenious  use  of  the  vote  upon  the  Holman  reso 
lution,  which  in  your  Letter  you  evidently  consider  your 
ace  of  trumps,  proves  nothing  to  the  contrary.  That  reso 
lution  was  voted  down,  not  because  the  Republican  party 
do  not  acquiesce  in  the  principle  which  it  embodies  (for 
they  have  avowed  that  principle  over  and  over  again),  but 
simply  because  it  was  regarded  as  a  totally  unnecessary 
declaration,  an  exhibition  of  weakness,  and  an  ill-timed 
attempt  to  treat  with  traitors  who  were  levying  war  against 
the  Union,  and  who  had  repeatedly  declared  that  they  were 
in  arms,  not  to  compel  a  redress  of  grievances,  but  to  set 
up  an  independent  Government. 

You  must  be  aware  that  on  the  24th  January,  1861,  the 
Republican*  Legislature  of  your  own  State  passed  the  fol 
lowing  resolution,  which  was  approved  by  a  Republican 
Governor : 

"Resolved,  that  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  entertain  and 
"  desire  to  cherish  the  most  fraternal  sentiments  for  their 
"  brethren  of  other  States,  and  are  ready  now,  as  they  ever 
"  have  been,  to  co-operate  in  all  measures  needful  for  their 
"  welfare,  security,  and  happiness,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of 
"  all  their  rights  under  the  Constitution  which  makes  us 
"  one  people ;  that  while  they  cannot  surrender  their  love 

*  The  Legislature  was  constituted  as  follows :  Senate,  27  Re 
publicans,  6  Democrats;  House,  71  Republicans,  29  Democrats. 
Republican  majority  in  Senate.  21 ;  in  the  House,  42. 


23 

«'  of  liberty,  inherited  from  the  founders  of  their  State, 
"  sealed  with  the  blood  of  the  Revolution,  and  witnessed  in 
"  the  history  of  their  legislation,  and  while  they  claim  the 
"  observance  of  all  their  rights  under  the  Constitution,  they 
"  nevertheless  maintain  now,  as  they  have  ever  done,  the 
"  Constitutional  rights  of  the  people  of  the  Slaveholding 
"  States,  to  the  uninterrupted  enjoyment  of  their  own  do- 
"  mestic  institutions." 

The  principles  of  this  resolution  are  the  principles  of  the 
Republican  party.  They  have  reiterated  them  on  every 
important  occasion,  and  no  sophistry  can  place  them  in  a 
different  attitude. 

Equally  unfounded  is  your  charge  against  the  Adminis 
tration,  of  a  want  of  activity  and  vigor  at  the  outset  of 
the  rebellion.  In  circumstances  of  embarrassment  and 
equal  peril  no  Administration  in  any  country  ever  dis 
played  more  vigor  combined  with  judicious  discretion. 
At  the  first  moment  in  which  it  acceded  to  power,  it  found 
upon  its  hands  the  war  which  the  weakness  and  incompe- 
tency  of  Mr.  Buchanan  had  left  as  a  legacy  to  his  country, 
when  he  retired  from  office.  The  public  property  had 
been  seized,  and  the  public  law  defied.  Insurrection  and 
disorder  had  developed  into  life  with  tropical  rapidity 
during  the  last  days  of  an  Administration  the  most  igno 
minious  which  any  country  ever  beheld.  Worst  of  all,  the 
national  spirit  had  been  demoralized  by  an  exhibition  of 
weakness  and  vice  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  coun 
try.  Then  for  the  first  time  was  witnessed  in  our  country 
the  spectacle  of  a  cabinet  minister  engaged  in  plundering 
its  treasury,  and  arming  its  enemies,  while  another,  aban 
doning  his  duties,  publicly  conspired  with  the  traitors  who 
were  planning  the  overthrow  of  the  Government.  Shame 
and  inability  to  cope  with  the  flood  of  wickedness  which 
surrounded  him,  had  driven  from  his  place  the  venerable 
and  upright  Secretary  of  State,  while  the  President,  like  a 


24 


man  in  a  dream,  permitted  the  ship  of  state  to  drift  help 
less  and  rudderless  to  ruin. 

Truly,  if  we  were  saved  from  the  anarchy  which  seemed 
inevitable,  it  was  owing  to  the  goodness  of  Divine  Pro 
vidence,  which  interposed  in  our  behalf.  Such  were  the 
circumstances  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  found  the  country  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1861.  If  any  man  shall  say  that  he 
has  not  honestly  and  patriotically  labored  to  restore  the 
authority  of  the  Constitution,  and  to  redeem  the  country 
from  the  disorders  in  which  he  found  it,  he  will  say  what 
is  opposed  to  the  truth  of  history. 

Was  ever  a  man  placed  in  circumstances  of  so  great 
difficulty  and  responsibility,  and  acquitted  himself  with 
more  constancy  and  courage'?  Look  back  upon  the  May 
of  1861.  What  do  you  behold'?  The  insurgents  in  pos 
session  of  every  Southern  fort,  in  possession  of  the  border 
States,  our  commerce  at  the  mercy  of  rebel  privateers,  our 
capital  besieged  by  traitors,  our  Government  without  sol 
diers,  without  arms,  without  ships,  without  money.  Look 
again  upon  the  May  of  1862.  You  behold  in  the  field  an 
army  of  700,000  men,  well  armed,  well  equipped,  well  dis 
ciplined  ;  a  line  of  armed  ships  from  Cape  Charles  to  the 
Rio  Grande,  the  border  States  redeemed,  Louisiana  in  our 
possession,  every  rebel  port  in  our  power,  the  traitors  driven 
from  Washington,  driven  from  Missouri,  driven  from  Ken 
tucky,  driven  from  Western  Tennessee,  driven  from  North 
ern  and  Western  Virginia,*  driven  from  Eastern  Carolina, 
driven  from  Florida,  and  the  rebellion  driven  to  die  in  the 
lair  in  which  it  was  hatched ;  our  arms  everywhere  trium 
phant,  our  flag  everywhere  victorious,  our  credit  unim 
paired. 

We  have  exchanged  fear  and  doubt  for  courage  and 

*  As  my  letter  goes  to  you,  the  news  comes  that  they  fly  from 
Yorktown  and  Corinth. 


25 


confidence,  danger  for  security,  rebel  boastings  for  rebel 
despair,  uncertainty  abroad  for  friendly  encouragement. 
This  may  not  in  your  opinion  be  worth  throwing  up  your 
hat  for.  To  those  whose  hope  it  is  to  see  the  Federal 
Constitution  maintained,  and  the  nationality  of  our  people 
preserved,  it  appears  differently. 

Is  it  nothing  to  have  accomplished  thus  much  I  Is  the 
man,  under  whose  lead  the  people,  rallying  to  their  Govern 
ment,  have  achieved  these  great  results,  to  be  charged  by 
you  with  want  of  force,  and  his  advisers  with  want  of 
virtue  I  If  you  were  the  historian  of  the  time,  and  if,  like 
Mr.  Allison,  you  were  to  decorate  each  chapter  with  high- 
sounding  apothegms  founded  on  the  facts  you  relate,  what 
a  singular  philosophy  you  would  eliminate  from  a  twelve 
months'  narrative  of  the  war ! 

But  you  say  you  see  no  signs  of  Union  sentiment,  or  re 
turning  loyalty  at  the  South.  Nor  did  you  see  much  of  it 
in  Missouri,  before  the  enemy  was  driven  out,  or  in  South 
ern  Kentucky,  or  in  Tennessee.  You  did  not  even  sus 
pect  it  in  New  Orleans,  until  you  read  the  correspondence 
between  the  Mayor  and  Commodore  Farragut,  when  you 
'learned  by  the  written  admission  of  the  former  that  the  old 
flag  was  received  with  every  demonstration  of  joy,  by  a 
crowd  of  people,  who  were  fired  upon  for  it  by  the  traitors 
who  dared  not  face  our  sailors  and  marines.  We  are  not 
to  expect  manifestations  of  Union  sentiment,  when  it  is  un 
derstood  that  it  is  to  be  bought  at  such  a  price  as  it  brought 
in  New  Orleans  before  its  evacuation  by  General  Lovel. 
Since  he  was  driven  out,  we  are  told  that  a  large  meeting 
of  Union  citizens  has  been  held,  which  was  characterized 
by  the  most  enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  joy. 

There  are  loyal  men  in  the  South,  but  it  were  in  vain  to 
expect  them  to  give  any  sign  under  the  terrors  of  conscrip 
tion  and  martial  law.  The  South  is  in  a  state  of  military 
bondage.  Her  loyal  men  would  speak,  but  they  dare  not. 


26 


llelieve  them  from  that  bondage,  drive  out  the  armed  trai 
tors  who  oppress  their  liberties,  and  you  will  see  whether 
there  be  not  men  in  the  South,  as  well  as  in  the  North, 
who  prefer  liberty  to  despotism,  security  to  oppression, 
peace  and  plenty  to  fratricidal  war  and  famine.  When 
you  have  done  that,  then  bring  forward  your  terms  of  con 
ciliation,  and  let  them  be  most  large  and  liberal.  Let 
them  be  such  as  brothers  should  offer  to  brothers.  Let 
them  be  full  of  kindness  and  generosity.  The  people  of 
the  North  will  then  follow  you  in  that  direction  as  fast  as 
you  can  run. 

But  the  authority  of  the  Constitution  must  be  first  re 
stored.  The  armies  of  the  insurgents  must  be  first  crushed. 
In  this  great  work  the  President  and  the  country  are  now 
engaged.  The  question  is  not  now  one  of  parties,  but  of 
self-preservation.  It  is  a  question  of  the  continuance  of 
constitutional  liberty  on  this  continent.  It  is  a  time  to 
look  forward,  not  backward.  It  is  a  time  not  to  sow  dis 
trust  and  dissension,  but  to  encourage  confidence  and 
union. 

On  which  side  of  the  great  struggle  do  you  stand"?  Will 
you  stand  by  the  country,  or  will  you  follow  still  the  for 
tunes  of  the  brigadier  ?  Are  you  for  the  Union  and  the 
law,  or  for  disunion  and  against  the  law  I  If  for  the  former, 
do  you  aid  them  by  raking  up  the  embers  of  party  strife, 
by  seeking  to  disparage  the  Government,  and  by  sympa 
thizing  with  rebellion  ?  If  for  the  latter,  would  it  not  be 
the  part  of  candor  so  to  declare  yourself?  Would  not  the 
frankness  of  such  a  declaration  be  preferable  to  an  ambi 
guous  loyalty  by  as  much  as  an  open  enemy  is  to  be  pre 
ferred  to  a  secret  foe  1 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  5,  1862. 


